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J. 0. BROWN.

TREE PROTEGTOR.

No. 375,693. Patented Dec. 27, 1887.

W/T/VESEES.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFI E.

JAMES O. BROWVN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONFH ALF TO JAMES S. NEYVELL, OF SAME PLACE.

TREE-PROTECTOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 375,693, dated December 27, 1887. Application filed May 12, 1887. Serial No. 237,993. (No model.)

To all whom it mag/concern;

Be it known that I, JAMES 0. BROWN, of Boston, in the county of- Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and 5 useful Improvements in Tree -Protectors, of

which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to treeprotectors composed of metal hoops or bands which encircle the tree, and metal slats secured to said hoops, the hoops being constructed to expand, and thus increase in diameter with the growth of the tree. I-Ieretofore the hoops have been constructed so that the ends of the metal strips of which they are made overlap and are secured by frictional clasps, which, while retaining said strips in hoop form, permit their ends to slip on each other, and thus expand with the growth of the tree, as shown in my application for Letters Patent of the United States filed December 13, 1886, Serial No. 221,443.

My present invention has for its object to improve the construction of the hoops with reference to their expansibility; and to this end it consists in a hoop having at one end a rotary bolt or red adapted to rotate in a yoke or holder attached to the hoop, the opposite end ofthe hoop being engaged with and coiled upon said bolt, so that the hoop can expand by the uncoiling of said coiled portion.

The invention also consists in certain details, all of which I will now proceedto describe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a treeprotector provided with my improvement; Fig. -2, a section on line 00, Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 a side view of the yoke or holder and bolt.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures. I

In the drawings, to a represent the hoops, and b b the slats composing the tree-protector,

' all being preferably made of strips of galvan- 45 ized sheet-iron, the slats being slotted to receive the hoops, as shown in my above-named prior application. To one end of each hoop I attach a yoke, preferably by bending the hoop back over the cross-bar 2 of the yoke and carrying the bent portion back through the adjacent slat, Z), and bending it again over one edge of said slat, as shown at 4, Fig. 2.

In the arms 3 3 of the yoke are formed orifices, which receive a bolt or rod, 5. Said rod is provided between said arms with a longitudinal slot, 7, adapted to receive the opposite end of the hoop-strip a. The rod also has a polygonal head, 6, adapted to be grasped by a wrench. I

In applying the protector to a tree the slats are placed upon the hoop strips, and the latter are then bent around the tree and one end of each hoop-strip is inserted in the slot of the rod 5 in the yoke on the other end of the same hoop-strip. The rod 5 is'then rotated by'a wrench applied to its head 6 until a suiiicient portion of the hoop-strip is coiled upon the rod to bring the hoop closely around the tree. It will be seen that the hoops thus formed will expand with the growth of the tree by the uncoiling of the portions wound, as above described, upon the rods 5.

I prefer to enlarge the rods between the arms 3 3 of the yoke, so as to prevent the accidental removal of the rods from said arms. This may be effected by inserting a suitable tool in the slots 7 and widening said slots, thus swelling the rods, as shown.

It will be seen that by this improvement I am enabled to entirely dispense with screwthreads and clamping devices and make the construction of the hoops cheaper and more durable than heretofore.

It will be seen that the headed rotary bolts,

adapted to be turned by a wrench, enable the 2. Atree-protector composed of hoop-strips each having at one end a yoke and rotary rod, In testimony whereof Ihave signed my name [0 on which the other end is coiled, and a series to this specification, in the presence of two of slats supported by said hoops, as set forth. subscribing witnesses, this 26th day of April,

3. The combination, in a tree-protector, of 1887. 5 a yoke, 21 hoop-strip bent at one end around the cross-bar of said yoke and partly around JAMES BROWN' a strip on said hoop, and a rotatable rod in Witnesses:

said yoke, on which the other end of the strip 0. F. BROWN,

is coiled, as set forth. A. D. HARRISON. 

